Do you dream about Nicolas Cage?

Usually, I use the intro to this newsletter to tie together a few fun strands of my colleagues’ work or lament the local sports teams’ fortunes, but this week ... what a week. In the words of John Prine, “Some humans ain’t human.”

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope’s Friday newsletter. Here’s what I’ve got for you ...

‘Dream Scenario’ offers yet another reason to love Nicolas Cage

I found myself at the Aero Theatre on Tuesday night, the only person over the age of 25, for the closing evening of Beyond Fest, an enthusiastic (borderline insane) gathering that bills itself as the largest genre film festival in the United States. The movie on tap was “Dream Scenario,” an absurdist comedy starring Nicolas Cage as an ordinary man who begins turning up in random people’s dreams.

Cage says he wasn’t director Kristoffer Borgli’s first choice for the role, which surprises me as I can’t think of another actor more willing (and able) to conjure emotional turmoil and neediness or who exceeds Cage’s position in already haunting our collective imagination thanks to his work and the memes it has inspired.

The film’s title works on multiple levels as Cage’s character, an unexceptional college professor dismissed by everyone in his life, initially enjoys the attention he receives when it’s discovered that he’s popping up in people’s dreams. He becomes a minor celebrity, temporarily easing his long-standing feelings of inadequacy. Never mind that he isn’t actually doing anything in these dreams, other than just standing there observing, usually while the dreamer is going through some traumatic situation.

But things take a turn, as they do, and “Dream Scenario” morphs into a cautionary horror tale about viral celebrity as well as a brutal satire targeting (not always successfully) cancel culture and social media influencers. Cage, bearded and bald, keeps the outlandish story grounded, making his oblivious character altogether human. By the film’s end, I was surprised how much I felt for this man.

Because A24 has a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement, allowing actors to participate in promotional events, Cage turned up at the end of the Fantastic Fest night for a Q&A, looking like Elvis at his ’68 comeback special and eager to talk about the latest turn in his singular career. And because this is an A24 movie, it’s easy to envision a scenario in which “Dream Scenario” catches on with audiences and awards season voters. At the very least, a Golden Globe comedy actor nomination seems like a possibility, and a well-earned one at that.

“Dream Scenario” opens in theaters on Nov. 10.

Nicolas Cage stars in “Dream Scenario.”

(A24)

Taylor Swift won’t be at the Oscars ... at least as a nominee

Not that we needed another reason to respect her, but Taylor Swift shut down the hellscape known as the Grove on Wednesday night for the premiere of her concert film, “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.” My pal Mary “I Am Not a Swiftie” McNamara was there, and seemed to have a good time, though not as great a time as Swift herself, who finally got to experience the Eras tour as a fan. (She’s most definitely a Swiftie.)

Times pop music critic Mikael Wood was in the same theater as Swift and spent much of the movie watching Swift watch herself. Then he and Times film critic Justin Chang got together and compared notes on their long evening. As Justin points out, “With a $100-million-plus opening weekend in the offing, it’s going to be a huge boon for multiplexes nationwide.”

One place it won’t hit — the Oscars. Because “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” is, at its essence, a promotional vehicle, it is ineligible for the motion picture academy’s documentary prize.

Maybe they could offer her a friendship bracelet instead?

Taylor Swift attends the premiere of “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” at the Grove.

(Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images)

SAG-AFTRA accuses studios of ‘bullying tactics’ as talks break down

When the major studios reached an agreement with the writers’ guild in late September, the hope was it would provide a framework to end the actors’ strike as well. That hasn’t happened. And as talks broke down Wednesday, the stalemate heightened fears that the labor dispute could stretch on for weeks — if not through year’s end.

“After meaningful conversations, it is clear that the gap between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA is too great, and conversations are no longer moving us in a productive direction,” the studio alliance said in a statement.

For its part, in a note to members from the negotiating committee sent Thursday morning, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists accused the AMPTP of using “bullying tactics.”

“We want to see progress in these negotiations so the strike can come to an end,” SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland told my colleagues Meg James and Wendy Lee. “Them walking away from the table doesn’t allow that. The only way this can move forward is for us to be talking to each other.”

Seems simple. But corporate greed has a way of bulldozing reason. Let’s hope they start bargaining again soon.

SAG-AFTRA members take to the picket line outside Netflix in Los Angeles in July.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)